When I finish these stories I will be showing pics of the trip and some will also be of cats I met over there. 
PART 2
Arriving in airport at Frankfurt, Germany we now say goodbye as the 28 members of our group depart various locations to go see things here they want to see and do before the wedding. We all have about a week before the wedding day. But will meet up in Switzerland in 3 days time. Even our daughter and her fiance say goodbye as they head out on the Euro train for Amsterdam to meet up with our 2 sons and their girl friends and spend a couple days enjoy in that fun place.
So suddenly after traveling across the sea "with the pack" we find ourselves completely on our own. Well my hubby is the type who oozes self confidence and he begins to look for a rental car quickly finding they charge exhorbitant prices as they "gotcha" at the airport and so decides he will find one online tomorrow. We are tired-jet lag is on us now. So we get a taxi.
Now we start to learn about driving in Germany. They drive fast and especially those Taxi drivers really wield their vehicles like a weapon strategicly squeezing in and out of traffic and rounding a curve there and zipping into that lane or exit there and tucking themselves between other vehicles etc etc. Meanwhile I am in a daze of unreality thinking "Oh my gosh! I am trapped now!" and I just have to make the best of it and think to myself I will make it to the hotel yet! lt feels like I am in a action picture movie being driven at a mad pace to save me from some villain. LOLLOL LOLLOL
We get there and the Golden Tulip does not have our room saved that our daughter called in for us. Maybe it is the wrong Golden Tulip we think so we head out with the same (gulp) Taxi driver to yet another Golden Tulip that is at least 12 miles away.....sigh.....pay heap amount of Euros to do that one! 
We get there and learn they have never heard of us either but we don't want to make the Taxi driver rich and we don't want to leave Frankfurt just yet so we sign up and stay! Now this Golden Tulip is 18 stories high. We are put on the 14th floor. The hotel is comperable to a Hampton Inn here in the USA but differant of course!
Starting with the fact we actually have a glass window door that takes us out onto our balcony overlooking the Mainz river and barges and ships busy on it. It is a fantastic view of course of the city as well as the big river, but we are amazed you can actually go out on this balcony and sit out there table and chairs and all.
For in America one fears suicidal jumpers and so the norm is that rooms high up always have sealed windows and no screens either lest a determined jumper shoud remove it and alas jump! Now I have "acrophobia" and have had it since I was a child. Which means I have a fear of heights. I need to feel safe when I am high up and avoid that vertigo and gripping fear that accompanys it and sends me into a anxiety attack.
So I of course do not go out on the balcony but my husband Paul does. He is not afraid and use to in fact mountian climb when he was a teenager (even went to Outward Bound Camp) and also in his 20 something years. He LOVES it ! Awesome he says while I watch timidly the other side of the glass and murmur "Don't go next to the railing in case it is loose"............(and other such drival in his eyes). But he knows how afraid it makes me so stays just short of the railing but as close as he can of course. LOL LOL LOL Easy for me to laugh now gang since I am not there! 
The beds -- yes beds-----are fascinating. We now begin to learn what sleeping is like in Germany and Switzerland and according to my daughter most of Europe. Anyway it is two beds next to each other like a double bed only these are like two super single beds (we are in a nice hotel) next to each other so I think closer to being a Queen size bed. There are no sheets, blankets, and a bedspread like back home. Instead there is one single flat sheet (never saw fitted in any motel while we were in Europe so I think they don't do fitted sheets at all).
This flat sheet is on bottom only. Now folding into 4 parts is one big thick goose down comforter incased in what I can only describe as a gigantic pillow case. Our pillows are also goose down pillows. This was also the case wherever we stayed while overseas. So word to the wise here: if you are allergic to feathers, better bring your own bedding and pillows to Europe!
Thankfully we are not. And if it had been cold weather the comforter would of been nice, but it was warm weather. We were informed when we ask how to turn on the air conditioner which is way up high in your room near the ceiling and you have a remote to use to work it ---- we were told it is May and not "Air Condition" season yet. But they said we may turn it on anyway since we are hot near the sun on the 14 th floor. They tell us how to use it as it is not "decipherable" to the words on it.
This turns out not to help at all because they have "pre-set" the thing and the meager air we get does not do any good. So we end up opening our window door and bathroom window in order to get cool and breathe. It kind of works............NOT. But by morning it is better anyway. Especially since we are leaving! 
During the night I did cool enough that I took the "pillow case" off the goose down comforter and used it for a sheet to cover myself. By morning I also had my long terry cloth robe on me for a blanket as the goose down was heavy and hot.
Supper that night appeared to be costly so we opt to try the "Chinese" joint across the street. I settle in and Paul goes across the street and returns with Indian food. Turns out it was not a Chinese place but a West Indian food place. The beef stir fry is good but a tad spicey and the Chicken stir fry is really spicey. Despite my hubby telling the resturant not to spicey please (hubby and I are not that fond of Indian or Thai food only certain things of it we like and not the spice much).
Well we eat it anyway and the next morning at the breakfast buffet we get our first look at a European breakfast. With a few "American type food " exceptions we never see again the rest of our trip at various places, breakfast is quite differant here. S o we tend to think this Golden Tulip since it was a pretty nice place caters more to world travelers. An American sport team was there at the same time we were for example.
So I will tell you the exceptions first here at our breakfast buffet we never see again to make this easier. There were fried eggs, scrambled eggs and soft boiled eggs. There was bacon. And there was fresh fruit and juice, hot chocolate, coffee and milk. Also some crepes but no syrup for them so we used jelly and on some we used honey.
Now the milk tastes like creamer you pour from a carton out of the refrigerator into your coffee. At first we actually think we used the wrong tap and filled our glasses with it. But turns out it is really milk. It is rich and creamy and tasty and whole milk in America does not taste like it at all. It is even kind of sweet we think. There is no such thing as skim, 1%, 2% etc. Does not exist any resturant or hotel we stay at the entire time overseas. So we drink it and love it and wonder how much weight will we gain while here ? LOL LOL LOL 
Now because we are in Germany there is a nice assortment of sausages! And they are tasty to! In fact I like them so much as I had looked forward to real German sausages that I go for seconds (later I pay dearly for this because last night I had that spicey Indian food remember........argh ). There is also a smoked what looks like large wide thin bacon but not fried or cooked but tastes wonderful. It is fresh like the salami, liverwurst, ham and other cold cuts laid out. So it is not like cooked bacon at all just sort of reminds you of it in appearance. I am not sure what it is called. Anyone know? I know I have seen it on the Food channel on Iron Chef for example. Always wanted to try it and it is mouth wateringly good!
Also there is a mustard sauce with pickled herring (rather fishy tasting and not as good as pickled herring in jar back home). And there is salmon to. Also Trout. Laid out also is all kinds of cheeses and cream style cheese. My favorites are the gorgonzola and baby swiss. In fact all the cheese is white colored and we never ever saw a yellow cheese in Europe anywhere or even white cheddar. We also never saw sharp swiss -- it would seem Germans and Swiss people only like baby swiss cheese as far as we could tell and the sharp kind is a Americanized version ?
There is also the most wonderful tasting and creamy and sweetest yogurt I ever have had in my life (I love yogurt) that would put Yoplait to shame even. And there are two kinds offered this morning equally good -- in fact so great I could not choose which one I liked the best! One was raspberry and the other peach. Yum !!!
Cereals are all granola types only. For your yogurt or as is with milk. If you wish to sweeten then you use honey not sugar is their preference. There is no such thing as white bread or sliced bread. It is either bread you cut off a slice yourself or buns. Both have very chewy crusts on them. I am sure you all of had hard crusty type buns before and they were chewy to - but these require "olympic" style chewing. Now I LOVE to chew myself. I adore things like nuts, chips, crunchy friend onion rings, tacos, etc.
However my hubby does not like to have to chew on his crust so hard! LOLLOLLOL He is also missing sliced bread! I am just find. He does agree it all tastes good though. 
I am thrilled with it all. I am in fact in "chewing Heaven!!!" LOL LOL LOL Now since there is no white but light to dark shades of wheat or rye and some crusts might have oatmeal or nuts on them etc. I just can't get enough. Crunchy, munchy I go merrily on!
In fact I really can't get enough the food is all so good especially the sausages and that smoked stuff like bacon and the breads and so I make the HUGE mistake of enjoying my breakfast far to much!!! And all it all comes crashing down without warning when we decide to try out that strange looking purplish colored sausage with white bits in it.
We think the white bits are cream cheese most likely. By the second bite of this sausage we look at each other and agree that we do not like it as now a really truly awful after taste has taken hold. I mean really nasty taste. We both drink juice and look for ways to rid ourselves of this awful taste. Meanwhile we begin discussing how weird that sausage was. How it was such a darkish purple color and what kind of seasoning makes it look like that anyway ? And why does the texture of it not at all resemble grainy or chewy meat in any way as you eat it but in fact is a like a hard jelled like texture instead ? Then it hits me like a ton of bricks...........................
ARGH........GASP............Oh God help me !!! Suddenly it comes to me THIS must be what my Grandfather used to love to eat and talked about. It just has to be. I squeak out the words to my hubby. " I think we just ate Blood Sausage". He turns green and I already am. Breakfast is now offically over for us!!! LOL LOLLOL Funny to tell it but not to experience it believe me!
My next installment of part 3 will take us out and on our way to Switzerland! And I am sick all the way. Between the Indian food last night and the breakfast enjoyed to much and then topped off by Blood Sausage I am in for one long miserable first day in Europe as we travel in a rental car! Tune in for my next chapter soon!
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